Joint and several liability of the culprit of the accident and the owner of the car. Road accident damage owner or driver

The owner of a car involved in an accident is not always behind the wheel. Such situations give rise to many questions regarding who will compensate for material damage to the injured party?

It is not possible to answer them unequivocally. After all, a lot depends on whether the driver had the authority to drive this car or not, who is its owner?

The responsibility to eliminate all consequences of the accident usually falls on the owner of the car or the person who was driving it at the time of the accident. The exact identification of the person who will be required by law to compensate for the material damage caused as a result of the accident depends on many circumstances: whether the owner of the vehicle is a legal entity or an individual, on what basis the right to drive the car was transferred to the person who committed the accident.

To understand the situation, remember the following:

• if the driver had a power of attorney to drive a vehicle that did not belong to him, then he himself will be responsible for compensation for damage;
• if he is driving someone else’s car without permission, resolve all issues regarding damages with the owner of the car;
• if the driver’s name is included in the MTPL policy, then contact the insurance company that concluded the insurance contract;
• If an accident occurs in a car that is listed as stolen, the person responsible for its theft and accident will have to answer.

Once it is clear who will have to compensate for the damage caused by the accident, send a written claim to the guilty party with your calculations and a request for voluntary compensation for the damage. If you receive a refusal or if the culprit ignores your request, prepare for a judicial resolution of the dispute.

What to do if the culprit of the accident is not the owner of the car

It will not be difficult to receive money from the person responsible for the accident to compensate for the damage caused to you if he was not driving his own car if he has a general power of attorney. Present your claims to him on completely legal grounds.

If the culprit of the accident drove this car without the knowledge of its owner or without registering his authority, then the owner of the car will have to answer. Of course, we are not talking about a case where the car was stolen and the collision was caused by the thief.

In this case, a criminal case is initiated. The person who committed the theft will be responsible for compensation for the damage caused by him. But to do this, the car owner will have to prove the fact of car theft with documents received from investigative authorities, for example, a resolution to initiate a criminal case.

Usually in such cases the victim is recognized as a civil plaintiff. His claim is resolved along with the criminal case. The result of its consideration is reflected in the court verdict.

Attention! The owner of the vehicle, who has paid all the expenses of the victim to restore his property and health, has the opportunity to return this money if he was not at fault in the accident. To do this, it is enough for him to bring a claim, called recourse, to the real culprit of the accident.

Payments with and without insurance

The presence of MTPL insurance policies for car owners guarantees compensation for damage by insurers not only in cases where the accident was caused by the owner of the car, but also when it is driven by a third party on the basis of a general power of attorney.

If you are involved in a traffic accident, follow these rules:

• call traffic police officers and the emergency commissioner to the scene of the incident to prepare all the necessary documents, including the road accident diagram, which will be needed to resolve the issue of compensation for damage;
• contact your insurance company with a certificate of the accident. You will also need a passport, an insurance policy, an application for compensation, a PTS and bank account information for crediting amounts. The answer will come within 20 days.

Failure to receive a response within the specified period or disagreement with the amount of insurance compensation gives grounds for going to court and conducting an independent examination.

The situation is more complicated if the damage has to be compensated by the person responsible for the accident, and not by the insurance company.

This is possible under the following circumstances:

• if the driver's name was not included in the insurance policy;
• if the insurance period has expired;
• if the car was stolen and the accident was caused by the thief.

The lack of insurance means that the responsibility to compensate for material damage caused to victims will have to be borne by the owner of the car or the person driving the vehicle.

The difficulty is that they may not have sufficient funds to pay for the damage.

If it is possible to ensure the execution of a claim by seizing the owner’s car, then it is impossible to do this in relation to the person who drove it by proxy. It is possible that it will be possible to establish that he has other property. In its absence, you will have to wait a long time for compensation for damage.

Monthly receipts under a writ of execution from his salary will not help you quickly repair a damaged car.

But in any case, the injured party will have to identify all its damage, estimate the cost of repairs, spare parts and components, and also determine the final amount of compensation. To do this, an independent examination will have to be carried out. And in order to avoid further disputes, it is advisable to conduct it in the presence of the person responsible for the accident.

Responsibility of the perpetrator in an accident

They will be released from liability only if they prove that the source of increased danger was removed from their possession due to illegal actions of third parties, for example, as a result of car theft. In such circumstances, the damage will be compensated by the person who is found guilty in court of illegal possession of a car and its theft.

If the guilt of the car owner is established and his actions contributed to the illegal seizure of the car from him, then he will have to answer to the victims together with the person who illegally took possession of the vehicle.

If the accident was committed on a car owned by a legal entity, then it will be responsible. After all, this legal entity is the owner of the source of increased danger. For example, if the accident was caused by a company driver driving a company car.

After the final settlement with the injured party, the legal entity has the right to compensate for its losses and recover the amount paid by it from its employee responsible for the accident. To do this, he should file a claim in court and provide documents confirming the payments he has made.

How to file a claim in court for damages in case of an accident

If the parties to the accident do not reach an agreement on the procedure for compensation for damage and its amount, the injured party will have to go to court. Remember that the law sets the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit at three years. Do not miss this deadline, because after this time you lose the right to judicial protection of your interests. And in this case, the damage caused to you will remain unreimbursed.

• identify the defendant in the claim. This may be the owner of the car or the person who drove it under a general power of attorney;
• comply with the rules of jurisdiction. A claim for compensation for damage is filed in court at the place of residence or location of the defendant. If there are several defendants, you can choose any court at the place of residence of any of them. The price of the claim also determines which court will hear your case. If the amount of damage does not exceed 50,000 rubles, then the case is considered by a magistrate. The remaining cases are under the jurisdiction of district courts;
• If there are several culprits in the accident, then there is no need to sue each of them. Several defendants can be named in one statement of claim;
• describe the circumstances under which the accident occurred, who is to blame for it, what damage was caused to your car and refer to the expert’s opinion;
• indicate the measures you have taken to peacefully resolve the dispute: the date the claim was filed and the response you received (attach copies of them to the claim);
• support the arguments set out in the statement of claim with the evidence you have: traffic police documents, an expert opinion, calculations of the amount of damage, receipts for the purchase of spare parts, documents confirming the payment of state duties.

When preparing a claim, you can ask the court to recover from the culprit not only the actual costs you incurred to restore the car.

In addition to these, you can indicate in your claim:

• about expenses that you have not yet made, but which you have to make. For example, the cost of repair work. They will have to be assessed in advance based on their existing tariffs for similar work;
• for compensation for moral damages. Provided it can be proven that you suffered physical and mental suffering. The amount of moral damages to be recovered is determined by the plaintiff independently;
• to recover the market value of the damaged vehicle. It will be required if the car is severely damaged, if the cost of repair exceeds its price.

Each of these stated requirements must be documented with accurate calculations. This does not apply to determining the amount of compensation for moral damage. It is set arbitrarily by the plaintiff. When making a decision, the court carefully evaluates all the arguments presented by the plaintiff and the defendant’s objections to them. The outcome of the case depends primarily on the validity of the claim.

If drawing up a statement of claim causes you difficulties, please consult a lawyer. They will not only help you write a statement of claim correctly, but will also tell you what documents need to be submitted to the court. In this case, you will be able to recover all costs for legal services from the defendant. To do this, save all receipts and attach them to the claim.

The statement of claim is filed in court in compliance with the rules of jurisdiction. After which the judge has a conversation with the plaintiff and the defendant, and a day for the trial of the case is set. If the defendant ignores subpoenas and repeatedly fails to appear in court without good reason, the case may be considered in absentia (without the participation of the defendant). After receiving the decision, wait until it comes into force and the writ of execution is issued.

Hand it over to the bailiff service. Now the quick execution of the decision depends only on them. If you disagree with the court's decision, you have the right to appeal it within the prescribed period.

The Supreme Court considered the case and made a decision that will be important for vehicle owners in Russia. The decision relates to who should be responsible and this is not the owner, but the one who owned the car at the time of the incident.

The history leading up to the litigation. In August 2014, a serious accident occurred, people were injured, and one person died. The driver lost control on the road. Let us note that the car was not driven by the owner of the car; the owner was sitting nearby in the passenger seat.

As stated in the materials, the woman who was driving the car at that moment was recognized, however, the criminal case against her was closed (no crime was identified), but the person driving the car had to pay moral damages in full. The inconsolable drivers demanded 1 million rubles from her through the court - compensation for moral damage in connection with the death of her daughter and 500 million rubles for treatment.

The Ulan-Ude district court satisfied the claim, but not completely, collecting 1.4 million rubles from the culprit of the serious accident. 1 million rubles as compensation for moral damage, 400 thousand rubles compensation in favor of the victim, plus state duty, plus the cost of paying for services in court.

However, the culprit herself did not agree with this turn of events, saying that she was not the owner of the car, did not drive it on the basis of a power of attorney, and therefore could not be a defendant in the case. And she believes that responsibility should be shifted to the owner of the car, adding that the latter was drunk at the time of the accident.

The culprit filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Buryatia, which overturned the earlier decision of the district court, agreeing that driving a car on a verbal order from the owner does not give grounds to consider her the legal owner of the vehicle, a source of increased danger. The claim was rejected; the court of appeal did not find any corpus delicti in the woman’s actions.

The blame was shifted to the owner of the car. Through long litigation, the owner reached the highest authority - the Supreme Court, which, after studying the case materials, canceled the appeal ruling of the judicial panel for civil cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Buryatia and sent the case for a new trial.

Thus, he noted that the person who was driving at that moment should be responsible for the consequences of the accident, and not the owner of the car, even though he was a drunk passenger in the car.

Explanations of the RF Armed Forces:

According to paragraph 1 of Article 1079 of the Civil Code, the owner of a high-risk device is obliged to fully compensate for the damage caused. If a power of attorney has been issued for a person to drive a vehicle, then he is recognized as its legal owner when the car is transferred to him for temporary use and he uses it at his own discretion.

Thus, the blame for what happened and responsibility lies entirely with the driver, despite the fact that no written power of attorney was issued, the transfer of control of the car took place orally.

Since the owner of the vehicle was present in the car, and the driver had a license to drive a vehicle of this category, the car was used legally.

Today, it is not uncommon for accidents to occur due to the fault of drivers driving a vehicle that does not belong to them. And then the question arises, if the culprit of the accident is not the owner of the car, who to sue? Let's try to figure it out.

Who to sue if the culprit of the accident is not the owner of the car

If at the time of the accident you had a power of attorney issued in accordance with all the rules for the right to drive the car, then the owner of the vehicle will be released from liability. It would seem that he should not be afraid of being sued. But it's not that simple.

If the culprit does not have a power of attorney, then according to Russian laws, responsibility for the damage caused can be assigned to the owner of the vehicle. The only exception here can be only one situation: the owner of the car proves that the car left his possession due to the fact that the person responsible for the accident committed illegal actions. To put it simply, he stole a car.

But here another important point arises. Let’s say the situation goes like this: the owner of the vehicle transferred its ownership to another person without formalizing a power of attorney. And this person was involved in an accident, and the accident was his fault, now the owner of the car has to compensate for the damage. After this, the owner can sue the person who gave the car and who caused the accident. The amount of recourse (reverse claim) may be equal to the amount of compensation paid by the owner.

What will happen to insurance payments?

If we talk about compulsory motor liability insurance, then insurance applies to any legal owner of the car - there are no exceptions. Problems can only arise if the car was stolen and the accident was the fault of the thief.

What the victim needs to know

The victim has every right to sue both the culprit of the accident and the owner of the vehicle. If the rightful owner of the car is a legal entity, and the culprit of the accident was performing his official duties at the time of the accident, then the legal entity must be sued. Note that this is a big plus for the victim. Since it is always easier to obtain compensation from a company than from a private citizen.

We remind you that the culprit of the accident or the owner of the car after the accident should send a claim for compensation. A response should be expected within a week. If after this period the money is not paid, then a claim should be filed in court. The claim must be submitted at the place of residence of the person responsible for the accident. If an organization is the defendant, then the claim is filed at the location of the company.

Claim for damages

An important decision for many people involved in a traffic accident was made by the Civil Division of the Supreme Court. Financial claims after an accident need to be made only to the person who was driving. Of course, if it is proven that the accident was his fault.

It must be said that quite often victims of road accidents try to recover damages not from the culprit of the accident, but from the owner of the vehicle. However, as the Supreme Court explains, this is illegal. The driver can cause an accident and flee the scene with or without a car.

However, this does not mean that the owner of the car who transferred the car by proxy should be responsible for his actions.

The owner of the car is responsible only for violations that are detected by photo-video recording cameras operating in automatic mode, unless he can prove that he was not driving the car. But this is the only exception to the rule.

So, a certain Borisov V.M. hit a pedestrian crossing the road, a certain Pilyugin A.N. Pilyugin later died in hospital from injuries received as a result of the collision. The MTPL insurance company paid the relatives of the deceased funeral expenses in the amount of 25 thousand rubles.

The relatives of the deceased went to court to fully reimburse funeral expenses, as well as moral damages - almost 120 thousand rubles in total. But the lawsuit was filed not against Borisov, who was driving the car, but against the owner of this car, a certain M.S. Klepikova. An insurance company was brought in as a third party and paid the relatives only 25 thousand.

The Soviet District Court of Orel rejected this claim on the fair grounds that the one who caused it should compensate for the damage. However, the plaintiffs were persistent. For some unknown reason, they refused to change the defendant in the lawsuit and filed an appeal with the Oryol Regional Court. There, their demands were satisfied and the owner of the car was required to partially compensate for the damage caused.

However, the owner, Klepikova, did not agree with this decision and appealed it to the Supreme Court of Russia.

Relatives of those killed in an accident should receive 475 thousand rubles from the insurer of the person responsible for the accident

After checking the case materials, the Civil Cases Collegium of the RF Armed Forces came to the conclusion that the driver, Borisov, was driving the car legally. Klepikova handed over the keys and documents to him voluntarily. In addition, he was included in the OSAGO policy.

According to traffic rules, the driver is not required to have a power of attorney from the owner. The right of ownership is confirmed by the MTPL policy in which this driver is included.

According to paragraph 1 of Article 1079 of the Civil Code, the obligation to compensate for damage is assigned to a civilian who owns a source of increased danger, based on the right of ownership, the right of operational management or other legal grounds. That is, the person who was driving at the time of the accident should be held responsible for the accident.

Therefore, the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the appellate instance and considered the decision of the first instance court legal and fair.

It is noteworthy that in the story that the Supreme Court was currently considering, the relatives of the deceased, according to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, can count on compensation in the amount of 475 thousand rubles from the insurer of the person responsible for the accident. Plus 25 thousand are the actual funeral expenses established by law.

If the relatives of the deceased had involved the insurance company not as a third party, but as a co-defendant, then they could count on receiving this entire amount, which is almost three times the damage they claimed. In the end, they only received legal costs.

Now, in order to receive all the necessary compensation, the relatives of the deceased again need to file a lawsuit. But already on the direct culprit of the accident - the causer of harm. And bring the insurance company into the case as a co-defendant. It is also necessary to ask the court to determine who should pay compensation.

A friend of mine had an accident in my car, he was found to be the culprit, the owner of the car is my mother, can the injured party file a claim in court for compensation for damages for the car against my mother??? How legal is this, because at the time of the accident, neither me nor her were in the car.

Answer

If a power of attorney for the right to drive a vehicle was issued to your friend, then your mother is exempt from liability for harm caused. If there was no power of attorney, then liability for damages may be imposed on her in accordance with Article 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. This article stipulates that the obligation to compensate for harm is assigned to a citizen who owns a source of increased danger on the basis of ownership, the right of economic management or the right of operational management, or on another legal basis. The owner of a source of increased danger is not liable for damage caused by this source if he proves that the source was removed from his possession as a result of the illegal actions of other persons.

However, in the event of compensation for harm caused to your friends, your mother, in accordance with Article 1081 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, has the right to claim back (recourse) in the amount of compensation paid.

As for compulsory motor liability insurance, the agreement will apply to all legal owners of the vehicle without exception. In most cases, in order to receive the necessary compensation, the victim will not have to prove the legal ownership of the car by the offender. Thus, only such possession will be considered illegal if it was completed as a result of illegal actions aimed at taking possession of the vehicle.